Now, in case you guys forgot who Dalton is, he's that big guy who hangs out a lot with Wesley Reddings. He's also the guy who Bastion beat during the midterm practicals as well as one of the jerks who threw Syrus out in the mud. He enjoys pummeling his opponents with his Beast and Beast-Warrior cards. If you've seen my Deviantart page, you'll notice he looks a little different than my original envisioning. Instead of shaved black hair, like in Chapter 11, he's now got a reddish-brown buzzcut and a hook-like ponytail, just to make him look more badass. Anyway, that said, on with the show...er...story!

Chapter 36 – Loss and Gain: Dalton's Rampage!

The next day, an exhibition duel was held at the Obelisk Blue arena. Every student and teacher was there, mainly because they didn't want to miss the unique dueling style of Seto Kaiba's brother. So far, his dueling style was considered flawless, even by Dr. Crowler himself.

Evenly matched up with him was his opponent. Jerome Dalton was getting catcalls and jeers because of the bright white "KICK M3" on the back of his jacket. He tried as hard as he could to ignore them as he drew his next card.

Just for the record, Mokuba currently had Luster Dragon (1900/1600) in Attack Mode, no cards face down and 2100 Life Points. Dalton's monster, Mother Grizzly (1400/1000), was just destroyed. Luckily, it was in Defense Mode and Dalton's Life Points remained safe at 1700. He also had a card face down.

"Nice try, brat," Dalton said, "but when my Mother Grizzly's destroyed, I'm allowed summon a water monster with 1500 Attack Points or less. So I'll call out another Mother Grizzly in Attack Mode!"

Another blue bear emerged onto the field with its claws bared.

"That's no big deal," Mokuba said. "I'll lay a card face down and end my turn."

Meanwhile, Jaden, Alexis, Blair, Chazz, Weevil, and Rex were watching in the audience. Jaden couldn't take his eyes off the duel.

"He's really not doing so bad," Blair said.

"What did you expect?" Weevil said. "He's Seto Kaiba's brother. I'll bet you anything Kaiba slipped one or two of his Blue-Eyes White Dragons in there."

"If that were true, he would've summoned it by now," Chazz said, folding his arms.

"I don't know," Jaden said. "Mokuba doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would just borrow strength from his brother…"

Dalton drew his next card. Lousy brat. He's trying to make a fool outta me. I'll show him! "Now I'll play the Spell, Wild Nature's Release! This card adds my Grizzly's Defense to its Attack Points (1400- 2400)! Mother Grizzly, attack his Luster Dragon!"

Mother Grizzly snarled as it ran over to Mokuba's dragon and brought down its claws hard, shattering his Dragon. Mokuba shielded himself from the shock as his Life Points dropped down to 1600.

"Now normally, by the end of the turn, Wild Nature's Release would've destroyed my monster. But that's not gonna happen. I activate my face down card, Beast Soul Swap! Mother Grizzly returns to my hand, and in exchange, I'll summon Mad Dog of Darkness (1900/1400) in Attack Mode!"

Mother Grizzly disappeared from the field and in its place materlialized a huge orange canine monster with talon-like feet and its ears curled up into horns. Saliva dripped from its jaw as it snarled at Mokuba.

"Sic 'im boy!"

"Not just yet!" Mokuba raised his facedown card. "Here's my Enchanted Javelin Trap! Whenever I'm attacked, this card increases my Life Points by your monster's Attack points. Of course, your attack still goes through, but it'll be like nothing happened at all."

Mokuba's Life Points rose to 3500 before Mad Dog sank its teeth into his arm, dropping them back down to 1600.

"Oh well," Dalton said as Mad Dog of Darkness trotted back to his side. "Good dog! Back to you, runt!"

He's certainly not imaginative at name calling. Mokuba drew his next card. "I activate the Spell, Fissure! This card can destroy the monster with the lowest Attack on your side of the field. And since you only have one monster, this leaves you very much wide open!"

Dalton shielded himself as his Mad Dog of Darkness exploded. "Ya stinkin'…!"

"I'm not done yet!" Mokuba said as he inserted another card in his disk. "Now I activate Monster Reborn and bring back Magna-Slash Dragon (2400/1200)!"

Rising onto the field was a great white dragon with huge blade-like wings extending from its forearms. Judging by the immense cheers of the audience ("Jaden, quit embarrassing me!" Chazz said), it was either something they were waiting for or Dalton must have destroyed it earlier.

"Magna-Slash Dragon, attack Dalton directly!"

Magna-Slash Dragon leapt into the air and raised its arm back, bringing it right down on Dalton who doubled over and fell to the floor as his Life Points reached zero. Dalton pounded his fist on the ground as the audience continued to cheer. He didn't even notice Mokuba extending a hand to him to help him up. Instead, he pushed himself back on his feet, stuffed his hands in his pockets and stomped off. In the audience, someone wasn't cheering, remaining silent and choosing to watch Dalton through mirrored sunglasses…

Dalton continued to grumble as he trudged through the halls. He eventually stopped when he saw Dr. Crowler standing right in front of him. For a while, the two remained silent…

"Uh…" Dalton began, "what's up, doc?"

"Jerome," Dr. Crowler said in his usual tone, "Walk with me. Talk with me."

"Uh…okay?" Dalton looked a little worried as he walked with Dr. Crowler. Neither one of them said anything until they reached Dr. Crowler's office. Crowler immediately went over to his desk and sat down and put his fingers together.

"Come. Sit."

Dalton slowly went over and sat down in the chair in front of Crowler's desk. Crowler's face looked rather grim, which was saying something even for him.

"I'm not happy, Jerome. Ask me why."

"Okay. Why?"

"Why what? Be specific, Jerome."

"Uh…" He was starting to get scared. "Why are you not happy?"

"I watched your duel with Mokuba Kaiba from start to finish. Your dueling was rather sloppy."

Dalton jumped out of his seat. "SLOPPY?!"

"Not only that, but according to my records, you've lost five consecutive duels since midterms. I've also received word from my colleague, Professor Autumn, that you and two others actually tossed a newly promoted Obelisk student out of the dorms and into the rain."

"You mean Truesdale? You know that little squirt doesn't deserve to be-"

"Regardless, this, along with other actions, is unacceptable behavior in my dorm. UNACCEPTABLE!" That last word echoed all around the room. "My patience has limits, Jerome. If you cannot show any form of improvement by the end of the week, you will be demoted to Ra Yellow. Not only that, but if you ever pull another stunt like you did before, I will see to it that you are expelled!"

Dalton was furious. He pounded his fist on Crowler's desk. "That's bull, man! You can't expel me for that!"

"I can and I will," Crowler said sharply, "unless you can get your skills and your attitude up to snuff. After all, you muscled your way up to Obelisk Blue at the end of last year. It shouldn't be too hard. Now run along. You have three days 'til the weekend."

Dalton growled. He could hear Crowler chuckling. As Dalton stomped back out of the office, Dr. Crowler noticed a small indent on his desk that Dalton's knuckles made. The sight of it made Crowler purse his lips together.

Later, at the Obelisk Blue dorm…

"IT'S NOT RIGHT! I CAN'T STAND IT!"

Dalton proceeded to thoroughly trash his room even more than usual, in a fit of angst and rage. His books were thrown everywhere, his window was smashed, and most of his personal possessions were broken or misplaced (with the exception of his duel disk).

"This isn't right. I'm an Obelisk Blue. I should be stronger than those losers in the Red and Yellow dorms! But I can't win! WHY?!" Dalton fell to the floor, pounding his fist. "Why can't I WIN?!"

"It's because you are weak."

Dalton freaked out and backed against his wall. That "weak" comment came from a woman in a red dress with pale skin and long black hair who seemingly appeared in his room from out of nowhere.

"Who are you? What are you doing in my room?!" Dalton clenched his fists in anger. "You want a piece of me too?!"

"Is this how you always act around ladies? I'm severely disappointed in you, Mr. Dalton."

"You know my name?"

"I know who you are, what you are, and why you've come here. I also know your anger and ferocity merely masks how sad and weak you truly are. Like a mouse masquerading as an elephant."

Dalton felt a vein pulse in his forehead. "You're really pushing it, lady. Either get to the point or get out so I can vent my frustration in peace!"

The woman in red narrowed her eyes and turned around. "You really have no patience. I just came here to help you…but after that very rude reception, I suppose I can always leave…"

"Wait."

She smiled as she glanced behind her. Dalton's hands were now slack and he seemed a bit calmer.

"What do you mean 'help' me?"

"I know your type, Jerome," the woman said, pressing her thumb to her lip. "You're the kind who tries and tries and tries, but can never make things work for him. Why could this be?"

Dalton couldn't help but blush a bit as she put her thumb to her lips. Man, that's hot.

"Is this your father?" Dalton snapped back to reality when the woman picked up a picture of a rather ripped man donning army camos and five o'clock shadow. "I think I've gotten the general picture of what kind of man you are already. I've heard the story before: the typical 'work hard for your father who constantly thinks you're a failure'? Stop me if I'm getting close."

"Dead on." Dalton stuffed his hands in his pockets. "My jerk dad's a drill seargant in America. He always believes in 100 percent success. But no matter how hard I work, even after I've been promoted to Obelisk Blue, he never gives me a 'nice work, Jerome' or 'that's my boy' or anything like that. The guy's a punk. He always was."

"…Might I see your deck?"

"Huh? Oh." Dalton took his deck out from a pocket in his coat. The woman in red shuffled through it rather quickly and threw it against his closet, causing his cards to scatter everywhere. "HEY!"

"No wonder you lose so much. These cards are pathetic!"

"I liked those!" He was silenced quickly when the woman pressed her fingers against his lips and started pushing him back.

"There is no doubt in my mind that you have potential. And I have no doubt that I can bring it all out. All you have to do…is accept my power…" Dalton found himself backed against the wall as the woman got dangerously close to his face. He was eye to eye with her. Because of this, he didn't notice that she had taken a sort of gauntlet with a gold eye in the palm out from her unusually long sleeve. "Do we have a deal, Mr. Dalton?"

Dalton swallowed a lump in his throat. "Yeah…gimme your power, lady."

"Then close your eyes…"

She leaned in a bit closer and Dalton closed his eyes…

Duo-san: ...Wow. Is she gonna kiss him?

Mokuba: Looks like it, doesn't it? What's the deal with that lady anyway?

Duo-san: You'll find out soon enough.

Next Chapter: Dalton Roars!

Name: Jerome Dalton

Age: 16

Eyes: Black

Hair: Brown with hook-like ponytail

Class: Obelisk Blue Second-year

Deck: Beast-Type

Jerome Dalton, or simply Dalton, is as strong as an ox and has the temper of a bull. Not much is known about him before joining the Academy or his friendship with fellow Obelisk, Wesley Reddings, but it can be assumed that his past was stuffed to the brim with delinquent behavior. Dalton favors pummeling and pulverizing his opponents with Beast-type and Beast-Warrior-type cards, his favorite being Enraged Battle Ox.

Now that I think about it, there's a character on One Piece named Dalton who can transform into an ox. Coincidence? I dunno.